Dedicated Pickleball Courts coming to Imperial Park

Eight pickleball courts will be developed in Cold Lake.

Council voted in favour of an attempt to create a dedicated outdoor facility for the growing sport of pickleball in Cold Lake this construction season.

During Council’s Corporate Priorities Committee meeting on May 16, 2017, council received an update to the Tennis Court Replacement Project (for Ivan Krook Park and Hill Top Park) where this discussion of pickleball originated. A number of emails were sent to the City over concerns that dedicated Tennis Court were being developed in Cold Lake North.

At the May 16 meeting, council agreed to add four pickleball courts to Hill Top Park and one pickleball court to the Kinosoo Beach. At council’s June 13 Regular Meeting, it was decided that Cold Lake will see an additional eight dedicated pickleball courts developed in the community.

“We’ve received a lot of requests for this facility and have moved money around in the budget to add this project to the 2017 list,” Mayor Craig Copeland said. “There is a dedicated and growing group of pickleball players in the city and council identified the need to support this growing sport.”

Council reviewed and considered several funding options would have impacted various capital projects throughout the community. Council’s decision was to to move $200,000 from the Energy Centre Access Road Enhancements Project to create the eight dedicated, out-door pickleball facility at Imperial Park. While the majority of the access road project has been completed with the creation of the new gravel road connecting 16^th Avenue to the Energy Centre, the remainder of the project was put on hold because of the ongoing work on the third expansion phase at the Energy Centre.

“The project was put on hold because that area can only support so much construction while remaining functional and accessible to the public,” Chief Administrative Officer Kevin Nagoya said. “Council decided to use that money to create these new courts in the meantime and, while construction timelines are always subject to change, we will make every effort to complete this new project this year.”

In addition to the eight new outdoor courts approved, the council has already given the go-ahead for one pickleball court to be a part of the multi-use surface at Kinosoo Beach and four courts to be a part of this year’s enhancements at Hill Top Park in Cold Lake South. The Cold Lake Energy Centre’s Reid Field House also currently accommodates an additional six indoor courts for drop-in pickleball year round. This will bring the total number of outdoor pickleball courts to 19 throughout the community.